Continuous plant for treating fiber



1931- B. s. SUMMERS CONTINUOUS PLANT FOR TREATING FIBER Filed May 29, 1929 Patented Jan. 2 7, 1931* g IBEBTRAND S. SUMMERS, OF EVANSTON," ILLINOIS con'rmuons PLANT FOR-Trademark} FI R.

App1ication filed May 29, 1 929 Seria1 No.f3S,857,

Raw fiber, such for example as sisal and manila, must be processed through a certain number of steps, suchvas decortication, drying, etc., before it is ready for baling and 5 shipment tomills for its furthermanufaca method of handling raw fiber.

The primary object is to provide a combination ofm'achines consisting'of a cleaning mechanism, a separating mechanism, a squeezing mechanism, and a drying mechanism, the several units of the system being connected together to form' continuous mechanism whereby the fibrous material is converted-from the raw state to'the finished product without manual manipulation.

manila, it may berused with other material subject to similar operation.

Another object is to provide a novel netlr 0d of handling raw-fiber, y

In the drawings:

Figurejl is a general top plan view of the continuous plant; and, H r Figure 2 1s a general side elevational View of the same structure.

7 A1 feeder table 1 is providedfor driving the stems or leaves of the fibrousmaterial to the 'cleaning'machine; Numeral 2 designates a '1'0.

conventional cleaning machine, which em bodies a set of conveying chains 2 for drawthe fiber through cleaning drums and then do ivering the same in such a way that the.

- shield 3 around and over a vertical shaft comtip or taperends of the fiber lie-in a vertical position, while the butt ends are more or less in a horizontal position. The fibers are so shownemergi-ng at 2*.

The fibers 2 are caused to be deflected by a prising a set of superposed, spaced pulleys 4 operating ini'h orizo rital planes; These gpulleys are the charging end'of a's'preader and ,conveyer-fdevice generall-ydndicated at 5,

which comprises I the subjvect matter: of a 7 separate patentapplication" filed May 29,

1929, 'and'be'aring SerialINuiiiber 366,858,v

This device functions to change :the fibers from their vertical position to ahorizontal position, so that these 'fiberslmay belaid von the conveyerof a succeeding squeezing ma chine crosswise of the direction ofmovement ofsuch conveyer. This spreaderand-con which carries a series of spaced,-vertically running pulleys 6. The pulleys sand '6 are arranged in cooperating pairs, and, trained around each pair is an endless, flexible element, such as the ropes'fi These ropes con- -stitute the spreader. and conveyor. f The fiber veyer device alsoembodies horizontal shaft conveyer Sofa squeezer generally indicated r at 9. Thissqueezeriis. disclosed'in a c'opendbearing Serial Number 366,855. WVhile this is primarily designed for sisal and The conveying j apron 8 or "the squeezing mechanism meets an upper apron9 and s conveyed through one or II I OIG IIIP S'bQtWQGH frolls under'heavy pressure'to squeezemoisture from'the fiber between'rthet aprons?! and ng patent application filed May 29,1929, and 1 a; drying mechanism generally indicated. at?

12, the said apron conducting the fibrous ,ma-

flterial, through the drying mechanism anddelivering the dried fiber in dried condition without mu-ssing or t'angling the fiberfs: This drying mechanism;constitutesfthesubject -"tion'? filled May 29, 1 929, and ib'earing Serial -No 366,856. Y

matter of another copendingpatent applica Figure 2-shows theassembly in elevation, I and it will readily be seen how the path of the fiber is continuousin'o'ne direction, which i insures conducting the fiber-in a uniform neat layer throughout the several mechanisms without manual handling.

The method of handling fibers thus consists l in the steps offeeding fibrous material to a 2 1 r p j 1,790,681

cleaning mechanism, arranging and spread ing the cleaned fibers crosswise of a longitudinally moving conveyer, conveying the manism to dry the same. V V

Having now described my invention, what terial in this manner through a squeezer to remove water therefrom, and, lastly, passmg the material n the same crosswise manner on a conveyer through a drying smecha- I claim as new'is: 1 V

1. The combination of a cleaning machine adapted to receive fibers and discharge them in vertical position, a spreading and conveying device for receiving the fibers in their 15 vertical position and for moving them to horizontal positions crosswise of a-longitudinally moving conveyer, a squeezing device receiving the fiber from the spreader and conveyer, and a drying device so connectedfin the line that one machine passes the layer of fiber to the nextone without manual manipulation substantially as described;

' 2." In combination, a series of fiber treat-1 ing machines consisting of a cleaning mechamsm deliveringfibers in vertical planes, a

spreading and conveying mechanism for dey livering the fiber ina horizontal plane, a

squeezingmechanism for squeezing the fiber 3. A combination of fiber treating machinery consisting of acleaning or decorticating mechanism, a conveyer having means for receivingfibers in a vertical plane and delivering the fibrous material in ahorizontal plane,

a water extracting mechanism for extract- 7 0 ing water from fiber lying crosswise of the direction of motion, and a drier for receiving the fiber in said position without manual manipulation substantially as described;

4. A continuous plant for treating fiber,

said plant comprising I a cleaning machine having meansfor conveylngcleaned fiber 1n a vertical position, a squeezer, means between the cleaning machine and squeezer for receiv- 'ing the vertical fiber from ,the cleaning machme and laying it in a crosswise horizontal position and soidelivering it; to the squeeze r,

a drier, and; means "for" delivering the fiber in.crosswisel position froml the ,squeezler to the drier. is r 1; ,r Intestimony whereof I affix my signature. 

